The National Library of Australia implemented VuFind in May 2008 to replace our previous (Voyager) OPAC:
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/
The usage of our catalogue in the year July 2008 to June 2009 was 140% higher than in the previous year, with 20.9M catalogue searches compared to 8.7M in the previous year.
We are hoping for a similar response to the renovation of our national collection discovery service (which combines eight existing services) when we release it in November 2009:
http://sbdsproto.nla.gov.au/
Warwick Cathro
National Library of Australia
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Kyle Banerjee
Sent: Friday, 25 September 2009 7:49 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Stats showing impact of Next Gen Catalog ?
> I seem to remember that some libraries using worldcat local reported
> an increase in interlibrary loan activity. There may an argument here
> that if there were a more transparent way across all libraries to see
> holdings easily/centrally from within the catalog that circulation
> would increase, a rising tide lifting all boats, or at least the
> bigger boats with more holdings.
Since implementing WorldCat Navigator -- a consortia level product that provides a discovery experience similiar to WorldCat Local, we have seen an increase in ILL across our member institutions. However, the impact is highly variable ranging from very little to over 200%.
Some institutions also report increased use of electronic resources which could conceivably result from requests for nonreturnables that would normally go to ILL being routed through resolvers that identify electronic copy. Actual circ numbers are down.
A number of logical explanations could be used to describe what is happening, but the reality is that associating cause and effect can be difficult.
One thing that is often absent from discussion is the effect that service expectations have an impact on requesting. You can have the greatest discovery mechanism, but if you want reference libraries to plug your service and patrons to rely on your system, the delivery mechanism whether materials are physical or electronic needs to perform.
kyle
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Kyle Banerjee
Digital Services Program Manager
Orbis Cascade Alliance
banerjek_at_uoregon.edu / 503.999.9787
Received on Thu Sep 24 2009 - 18:07:30 EDT